Contrary to my previous take on his persona. After breezing through The Botany of Desire, I have decided instead that this man is most definitely a genius, not simply for his beautiful prose but for his earth-shattering insights into our co-evolution with plants ... most specifically marijuana. HOLY COW. The book is divided neatly into four sections, each following a plant that human culture uses to gratify a specific desire. There's the apple, which we have cultivated and bred to satisfy our desire for sweetness; the tulip, which we have bred to satisfy our love (and sometimes mania) for beauty; the potato, which we have (disturbingly) chemicalized to satisfy our need for control. But the most astonishing chapter for me was that on marijuana and our desire for intoxication. Even if you have never indulged in marijuana's ability to elevate the self out of the drone of the everyday, even if you think that all the potheads should be shot, even if you think that marijuana is as bad as heroin, you should take an hour out of your misinformed life to read this chapter. No, it does not try to convert you, but merely offers an explanation for why millions of people choose to indulge in this particular drug. Most explanations for marijuana's attractiveness are weak. Pollan takes it so much further, by positing (in much more eloquent prose) that the primary reason people smoke pot is to quiet the noise of life and to truly live in the moment, as we did when we were young children. And, every once in a while, this is definitely a worthwhile activity, whether you experience it through yoga, meditation, or marijuana.
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